Robert and Isabella (Ramsay) Davidson
Family tradition holds that Robert and Isabella Davidson emigrated from the area around Dundee, Scotland, with two servants in the early 1730's. Robert and Isabella arrived in America and settled in Chestnut Level, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. As they began to build their new life, Isabella was said to have had a love for spending money. In time their estate was squandered.  Robert died at age 27, leaving her penniless.

Isabella decided to move southward with other Scots to the Carolina territory along the Great Wagon Road, which ran through the Shenandoah Valley. With her were son, John, and daughter, Mary. The family settled in Rowan County, present day Salisbury, North Carolina. There she remarried a gentleman named, Henry Hendrey (or Henry). He was a graduate of the College of New Jersey, which was later renamed Princeton University. Henry was a noted educator and was an excellent tutor to John and Mary.

John and Violet (Wilson) Davidson
John Davidson was born on December 15, 1735 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In Rowan County, North Carolina he apprenticed as a blacksmith. In his mid 20s, he moved, with his sister, to Mecklenburg County. He met Violet Wilson, the daughter of Samuel Wilson, a nearby plantation owner. On June 2, 1761, John and Violet were married. It is believed the newlyweds received their homestead through a gift of land split off from Samuel Wilson's holdings.  

John & Violet Davidson's first home was a two room log cabin they called "Rural Retreat". This reproduction is an example of a log home typical of the period. Rural Retreat stood for 135 years. Unfortunately, there are no known photographs of the structure and this reproduction relies on an undated sketch by a member of the family.

Before 1771, John Davidson served as a Justice of the Peace in the Magistrate Court in Mecklenburg County. In January 1773, John Davidson became one of Mecklenburg County’s two delegates to the colonial North Carolina Assembly in New Bern. He and Thomas Polk introduced measures for the establishment of a public road from Mecklenburg County to the North Carolina coast. He and Martin Phifer presented a bill for the “public establishment of learning.” The bill to create Queens College passed the legislature but was vetoed by Governor Martin. He also assisted in the recognition of Charlotte as the County seat and the establishment of a courthouse. His experience as a legislator was not altogether happy. He had witnessed little in New Bern to win loyalty to Royal Government and his name does not appear in the public record after January 1774. In 1778 John was serving as one of 18 Justices of the Peace in Mecklenburg although it was thought that he had been one for longer than that.

As with most other able men of the area, he also served in the Mecklenburg County militia. With hostilities growing between the Americans and the Crown, John was appointed to the Committee of Safety of Mecklenburg. He attended meetings held in Charlotte to discuss the grievances and methods of action..

The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence
One particular meeting, which would become a significant date in North Carolina history, was called on May 19, 1775, by Col. Thomas Polk. Two men from each captain's company in the militia were selected to attend. John Davidson and John McKnitt Alexander were the representatives of the Hopewell District.

The story goes that Thomas Polk expected eighteen delegates to attend the meeting but there were so many influential men present that an argument broke out and twenty-seven were ultimately seated, with others listening at the door and the windows. Chief considerations were lack of security for the unarmed province, restraint on provincial and export trade, unjust taxation, and the immediate need for some form of local government.

On that day a tired rider arrived in Charlottetown with news of bloodshed in the northern colonies. The British redcoats had fired on Americans in Massachusetts, at Lexington and Concord. This was inconceivable, and with respect to their other grievances, unacceptable. Cautious men now shouted for a declaration of independence.

They appointed a committee to draw up resolutions for their consideration. The resolution proposed a revolutionary list of declarations stating, "that all laws and commissions confirmed by, or derived from the authority of the King and Parliament, are annulled..." and the words, “we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people.” Following consideration and debate at 2 am of the following day, May 20, 1775, the delegates signed the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. The document was more than revolutionary, it was treasonous.

Adam Brevard Davidson said that his grandfather, Major Davidson, and Richard Barry rode the 14 miles home on a bypath, after night for fear of being killed by the enemy in the cause of the Declaration.

As a member of the Committee of Safety, Major Davidson attended the meeting on May 31 where delegates met to debate adoption of the Mecklenburg Resolves. The Committee of Safety adopted the position that, since all laws and commissions derived from the authority of King or Parliament were null and void, the Resolves were intended to fill this legal gap and provide a framework for government by the Committee of Safety until proper laws were passed by the Continental and Provincial (North Carolina) Congresses.
Copies of the documents were carried to Philadelphia by Capt. James Jack. Unfortunately, the home of the secretary to the Convention, John McKnitt Alexander, burned and records were destroyed. The copies sent to Philadelphia are missing. To date there has been no original copy of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence found.

When he was 95 years old John wrote that he believed himself to be the last person living who had attended the May 19th - 20th, 1775 meeting when the controversial Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was signed.

Military Career of Major John Davidson
When the Provincial Congress of North Carolina organized the State Militia on September 9, 1775, John Davidson was appointed second major in the Mecklenburg militia. He served under Rutherford against the Cherokee in the “Snow Campaign." John Davidson was promoted to first major on April 23, 1776.

Major John Davidson left field service after the 1775 and 1776 campaigns (summer of 1776), taking the position of Brigade Major on the staff of the Salisbury Brigade. One of his grandsons said that he had declined to accept the same rank in the regular army under an officer who had never seen service, but nevertheless he was one of the most active ”Hornets”.

He was with the Militia when they went to Cross Creek to battle the Scots Highland Tories but they arrived too late. He was among the officers of the day in Gates' camp; Brigade Major Davidson was on duty August 8 1780, at Lynch's Creek, and on August 13, 1780, at Rugely's Mill. The Battle of Camden took place on August 16 and Gates was decisively defeated by Cornwallis." John Davidson did not fight at Fishing Creek on August 18, 1780 because he had escaped to Charlotte and was there when the news of the defeat arrived.

The Battle of Cowan's Ford
In December, 1780, General Nathaniel Greene ordered General William Lee Davidson, a cousin to John Davidson, to delay the British army’s expected advance northward through North Carolina.

This delaying action would allow General Greene to move the main body of his army to more suitable ground to give his outmatched American troops the greatest possible advantage for battle.

General Davidson assembled some of the militia at Rural Hill where they encamped for several days prior to February 1, 1781. The General was in need of a horse and John offered his cousin one of his finest horses.

While General Greene was moving toward Salisbury, General Lord Cornwallis was marching from his headquarters in Charlotte to the west to Lincolnton. He then turned east advancing toward the crossing at Cowan’s Ford, where General Davidson awaited the British.

The battle would take place only about four miles north of Rural Retreat. In the opening shots of the battle General Davidson was shot from his horse and died shortly thereafter. The horse returned riderless to the stables at Rural Retreat. The General was buried secretly that evening in the cemetery of Hopewell Presbyterian Church, located just 4 miles south of Rural Hill on Beatties Ford Road.

John & Violet Building A Family
Major John and Violet Davidson had 10 children. There were three sons, Robert, John, and Benjamin, and seven daughters, Rebecca, Isabella, Mary, Violet, Sarah, Margaret, and Elizabeth, of whom three married distinguished officers in the American army, (Isabella) General Joseph Graham, whose personal account of the Battle of Cowan's Ford is a lasting testimony to the heroism of the American militia, (Rebecca) Captain Alexander Brevard, who served in nine decisive campaigns, and (Mary) Dr. William McLean, a surgeon in the Continental Army.

Violet passed away in 1818 and was the first to be buried in the Rural Hill Burying Ground. In 1823, at the age of eighty-eight, John Davidson decided to retire from Rural Hill and went to live with his son-in-law and daughter, William Lee and Betsy Davidson at their home called Beaver Dam, located just 3 miles east of the town of Davidson.

John & Sarah Harper (Brevard) Davidson
Major John Davidson turned Rural Hill over to his son John, who had been nicknamed, "Silver Headed" Jacky. Jacky was a successful planter. His nickname grew out of a remarkable incident which happened while he was cutting timber. A heavy limb fell on his head and fractured his skull. His grandson, William Davidson, who had just graduated from medical school, averted death by lifting the splintered bone off the brain and replaced it with a silver plate in its stead. Such an operation at that time was an amazing unusual surgical feat. The silver plate was exposed to view in his head and became the object of much curiosity. Jacky lived to 91 years old, upholding the Davidson family reputation for longevity.

Robert Davidson (1769-1853) & Peggie Osborne
Robert, also, known as “Robin” was another son of John and Violet remained in the area of Rural Hill, and built Hollywood Plantation in 1801 just one mile west of his father’s house. He married Peggie Osborne, daughter of Captain Adlai Osborne from Center Church. They had no children, but were foster parents to several. Robert was one of the largest slave holders in Mecklenburg County according to the History of Hopewell Church, and he later became one of the founders of Davidson College.